High CPU usage w/JAVA

Hiya All
I'm completely new and I'm hoping to pick the brains of all you experts. First let me state that I know nothing about JAVA except that I need it to play some games. I'm a typical old lady who turns on her computer to play old lady type games, watch cute little kitten videos on youtube and trade recipes with friends on Facebook. That is pretty much the extent of my computer usage. I hope that paints a mental picture of the kind of computer person I am...and no I don't wear a moo-moo!
So, this is what I know: I have IE8, latest version of Java, latest version of Adobe and Windows XP Service pack 3. The problem is that when I try to play some of those flash player type games on Facebook my CPU spikes at 100% and my computer lags. I also have this problem when I go to pogo.com to play games where I need Java to play. Again CPU spikes at 100% and everything slows to a snail's crawl.
I've gone to Adobe's forum and read complaints about flash player and high CPU usage problems but no fixes. I've tried uninstalling both Adobe and Java and reinstalling...didn't help. I've made sure I have no "background" programs running (such as antivirus, antispyware)...still no help. I then tried switching to Firefox browser but that didn't fix the problem either. I'm told I have plenty of RAM and was only insulted until RAM was explained to me. While trying to play these games, I checked task manager which says processes iexplorer.exe at 98...everything else on the list read 0. CPU usage 100%. This problem has only arisen within the last few weeks...during this time I've not downloaded anything except for windows update.
So, that is my problem...I can't play my old lady type games. Earth-shattering, I know!!! If any of you kind experts could give me some help, advice, suggestions I would be most greatful.
Thank You in advance, your time is appreciated.
Saggioculo
(Anne)

When the CPU spikes, can you hear your hard drive making the same noise(s) it makes when you're saving a file or watching a movie? If so, then you really don't have enough RAM, so the CPU has to unload some of the stuff that's in memory and store it temporarily on your hard drive, and that's dog slow.

Other than that, if you really are up-to-date with your browser and plugins, your CPU may really just be too slow to run the games.

Your such a dear for answering so quickly...thank you. My computer doesn't sound any different when I have the high CPU usage. I have a Celeron(R) D CPU 3.20GHz, 1.37GB of RAM. Do I need a new CPU and if so could you recommend?
Thanks again!!
Anne

Your such a dear for answering so quickly...thank you. My computer doesn't sound any different when I have the high CPU usage. I have a Celeron(R) D CPU 3.20GHz, 1.37GB of RAM. Do I need a new CPU and if so could you recommend?
Thanks again!!
Anne

Your such a dear for answering so quickly...thank you. My computer doesn't sound any different when I have the high CPU usage. I have a Celeron(R) D CPU 3.20GHz, 1.37GB of RAM. Do I need a new CPU and if so could you recommend?
Thanks again!!
Anne

Are you absolutely sure that that's 1.37Gb of RAM, and not hard drive space? Like Jos said, that's a very, very unlikely amount of RAM.

OK...I right click onto "My Computer" click properties and wrote exactly what it said...1.37 GB of RAM. My computer is a few years old... should I just get a new one instead of investing anymore into this one?

If you don't already have a virus scanner and firewall, I'd install that first and run a complete scan. Your machine seems capable enough for old lady games, so there's probably something (malware) consuming it.

Then if you have the time, and preferably someone experienced with computers, backup your data and reformat. You don't have to do this, other things may work, but keep it as an option because reformatting (reinstalling your os) can really help.

You don't ever really need to reformat with Mac or Linux but with Windows, running with a fresh system can clear up some issues.